Well, OK, not zero. Exceedingly few people openly self-describe themselves that way. Hence why "I'm not racist but" is almost always followed by something racist. For example, this person seems to think he's not racist: People have internalized the idea that being a racist is bad and they should avoid it, but merely knowing "Racist is a bad thing to be" is usually insufficient.
More and more kids are going to college and as soon as they get there they're bombarded with movements that tell them how and why they're victims. Impressionable freshman are pressured to sign on with group think, and if you don't sign on you're passively letting the white male patriarchy dictate your life. So girls are informed with (so skewed they're practically made up) statistics about how 12% of men are rapists and another 60% of the remainder sexually harass women on a regular basis. They learn that the entertainment industry is never going to let them be feminine until we start making movies nobody wants to watch. Don't give in to the patriarchy, speak up! Black, Mexican, and Asian kids celebrate racial pride and ethnic studies professors do everything in their power to rile them up. Kids are asked to critically examine how often they get racially profiled. If you think about it enough it happens a dozen times every day. For now the white guys are pitching in because they want to help too/not get left out, but it's only a matter of time. I can see the white male victim movement lurking in the shadows. Soon youtube is going to be full of young white men complaining about reverse racism and how feminists won't respect their manhood, or lack thereof. No... no... I don't even want to think about it. I'm not saying none of these are legitimate issues, but everything about how our culture addresses them is totally backwards.
Look, I really, really don't want to be that guy here, but I did go to a predominantly black high school for 2 years. If I may be so bold as to make an observation, too many black people in that school didn't go to university, let alone go there to learn how they were victims. Secondarily, I went to university and in not one class was I or any of my classmates asked to reflect on how they were different or celebrate their ethnic diversity or any such nonsense. No ethnic study professor riled me up. And finally, if you think that the white victim movement you speak of hasn't started already, you're probably not paying enough attention.
I was not claiming people shouldn't be going to college. My ethnic studies professor hated white people, and he was fucking white. What you're saying your ethnic studies professor refused to do is all mine ever did. I can't count how many campus events we had related to my above post. Minnesota is a very liberal state, so I'm not sure how much that factors in, but this shit is happening on college campuses across America.
Let me preface this by saying that I feel as though we live in an unfair world, I have seen it first-hand, not just in America. Slavery and racism is not a business that white males in America invented. Still, we live in a world that is a construct, the architecture so to speak, of white males. I'm not saying the subjugation and mistreatment of women and minorities is right by any stretch of the imagination but at the same time, would the organization and progress necessarily be here otherwise? I'm sure there is an argument that can be made to the contrary but it takes a lot of initiative to travel the globe on low-grade technology, take over, organize and run it. Nobody else out there was trying and as successful as white males were. That being said, if this hadn't happened where would we be? This isn't a question in favor of racism, sexism, etc.; it's an honest question to assess...where would we be?
I went to a majority white high school; we had two black kids in my graduating class of 56. I graduated from The University of the South. I bought my work boots from LL Bean. I will fight to the death anyone who tries to say I am not the whitest motherfucker alive. The above is nonsense. It's disturbing insidious racism. Worse, it's an intentional attempt to make yourself out to be some sort of victim. It's whiny, petulant behavior that rationalizes a way to find someone to blame for something. What is that something? Anything you want it to be. Why should women "give in to the patriarchy"? I don't really know what "the patriarchy" is, but whatever it is, why should anyone knuckle under to it or anything? Why shouldn't Black, Mexican, and Asian kids embrace their culture? Yes, these things can be taken too far, but as a lesson, these are not objectively bad things. You sound scared of something.
Stop and think about how many leaps in logic you just took. You accuse me of wanting to make myself out as a victim in a post where I discussed being put off by a white male victim movement. Because I don't like the way our culture is addressing these issues I'm automatically a closet racist and misogynist. You assume that when I take issue with over the top outrage it means I don't want ethnic groups to embrace their culture. My problem isn't with combating racism, it's with actively searching for racism where it doesn't exist. If I'm making all of this up and being 'self rationalizing', then why I ask, was racism a central focus in the case that started this topic? Why was there widespread (and encouraged) paranoia about black people rioting as the result of a verdict that had no bearing on race? I don't take issue with a feminist fighting for women's rights, especially with what certain republicans are saying. I don't have a problem with a black guy getting pissed off when his resume is turned down because he's black. I don't mind people informing the public with a video like the one Parker posted. However, when I criticize the hyperbole of over analyzing every day interactions as racism, or question the legitimacy of finding patriarchy in the film and video game industry, it's not an open dialogue. Instead it's a thinly veiled attack, and if I don't fully support the movement I'm another oppressor. It's bullshit, and when people disagree with a third party they're motivations are immediately called into question, and they're shoved into the same group the movement was started against. We have too many sensationalist gurus and not enough calm, open discussion.
With the way the news is playing this out now (I'm looking at YOU CNN!!!), it looks like they're just begging and praying for a train wreck and race riots so they have something to cover. Almost like they're provoking it.... Almost.... Ok, screw it, they are provoking it. Seriously, if there was ever an entire institution to wad up, throw in the trash, and say "fuck it, we gotta start over," it has GOTTA BE the mainstream media (i.e. the big news network, hate to sound like TM here). Btw, am I the only one who wants to give props to Trayvon's dad for rocking the James Harden beard?
You aren't wrong. I went by the CNN website about an hour ago and was greeted with: BREAKING NEWS Race no factor? 'That's a joke,' Martin's mom says I wonder how many people simply read the headline and went into an indignant, self righteous rage? CNN is just fueling the fire and Al Sharpton is once again helping matters by calling for massive nationwide protests on Saturday. That's a brilliant plan to help everyone calm the fuck down and think rationally.
Rationally is a word not in Sharpton's vocabulary. Other words also missing are "retire" and "intelligence". He needs to fuck off, and I mean forever.
You know what's breaking news? Uhm, everything else except for that now. You know what would "help race relations"? Everyone chilling the fuck out and having a beer and a BBQ together. As much as I got into this trial because, as a legal nerd, I was interested to see if they'd follow the letter of the law in a high profile case... I'm just sick of all that it exposed. This trial stirred up all the muck and mud that was supposed to just lie there. The more I think about racism and everything pre and post this trial, the more I realize it's not "something we need to talk about," but rather, it's something we've made significant progress, as a society, toward eliminating. And by bringing out the worst in people, this trial only made it worse, not better. Hell, I'm tolerant as a motherfucker, but I've still said some things, in this thread alone, that I normally wouldn't even have thought about thinking about had this trial never happened. Critique America and society all you want, but at this point -- and I know I'm doing a 180 here -- I think the focus should be on how far we've come, rather than on how far we still have to go.
Wow, thanks for posting this video. It is very applicable to the current discussion we're having and will probably help us talk about issues like this in the future.
I hate to be "that guy" (like dixie) who references his past posts... but I honestly think we should have a thread about racial discussion/issues/relationships/whatever-you-wanna-call-it. The whole "Zimmerman" title has clouded the real issue in so much media nonsense (imo) that it hangs a certain bias over the otherwise very good discussion we could otherwise have. I mean correct me if I'm wrong, but this board used to be a place where I'd come to kill a few hours and read about tits and ass and all that, but recently... I almost come here now to be... educated? Read other researched/provocative opinions? I know the whole "direction of this board" shtick is falling on deaf ears but just to throw this out there, since it's WORKED in this thread imo, I'd KILL for a place (such as this) where religion/politics/racial debates etc. were allowed bc PEOPLE RESPECTED EACH OTHER'S RIGHT TO HAVE A DIFFERENT OPINION! Like we do HERE. That's basically what has happened in this thread, am I right? I want to hear the other side of the fence. Because I want to be further educated. Because I think that the only way, in my opinion, for society to finally come to an agreement on something is to see how it goes both ways and to find a common ground.... That's not a bad thing, right? I mean, after all, message boards are basically a small-scale social experiment... Or am I doing this wrong?
If we're being entirely honest, I understand that people want that thread. However, I don't know that I feel like moderating it to the degree that it would need to be moderated. I'm also personally suffering from a little bit of fatigue from discussing these issues personally, and that's something of a burden to put on the other minority members of the board. Sometimes it's hard for me to find the proper balance of sincerity and levity, and I think it would be really important in that thread. Another moderator can make it, if they want. I'm not sure that's a route I personally want to go right now. See also: why we haven't actually had a thread about sexism.
This. This shit right here. For me, the idea that my mom went to a segregated school is inconceivable. That my cousin caught some shit for dating a black girl is fucking laughable. When I think about it, I can't really give an honest reason for the difference between black culture and white culture in my generation. I know just as many white thugs as black thugs and in my university, there were just as many black men and women as white. There will always be elements that maintain old prejudices, but when I think of the world my grandfather lived in, I'm astounded at how quickly the old barriers fell and continue to fall.
Topical discussions are one thing, but I don't see any upside of having an ongoing political or religious debate. The reason why I like this place is because we don't have that. What would it accomplish exactly?
Let me guess, you're white. The thing about being white is that you have the privilege of ignoring everyday racism. That's why they call it white privilege.